Once Upon A Time
by jjenwrites
Summary: In which Eun Sang runs away - and comes back 5 years later.


She wasn't a weak girl – not by any account. Especially since her father had died since a very young age, leaving her to take care of her mother all alone. What devastated her more were the stories from her childhood, when she spent all night praying that her Fairy Godmother would come down and save her and nothing happened.

So, at 15 Eun Sang had wiped her tears away, pushed her pain down and understood that no one was going to come and save her – so she saved herself.

When she turned 18, her prince charming had come. Dressed in white, with a kingdom to inherit and an evil stepmother. For a while, it was great. It was so amazing to have someone to depend on, to hold someone's hand while she braves the storm.

Then something changed. Why did it feel like she was stuck in a tower with no way out? In a pretty gilded cage filled with fairy lights and luxurious goods, yet nothing was hers. Then that's when it dawned on her, she'd been reduced to a pathetic fairytale trope that existed purely to add to a storyline. The punch-line? The story wasn't even hers.

Suddenly, Prince Charming wasn't next to her, he was pulling her forward, into a cushy comfortable life where she would belong to him, _forever. _

So when the villain had offered her a ticket to America, accompanied with a stern warning to "_stay away from my son"._

She took it.

At the airport, her phone rings insistently and the businessman on his laptop casts her dirty looks. Prince Charming was calling, with soft where are you's and don't leave me's.

She throws her phone away and ignored the businessman's curious glances.

She spends the entire flight crying and the air stewardess eventually comes over with ice cream.

It takes her a month before she's settled and ready to get a new phone. When she does, she calls her mother first and tells her that she's really sorry to leave her behind and naturally her mother stays silent.

When she puts down the call, tears in her eyes, she receives a message _Be Safe. _And she knows her mother will be okay.

She contemplates who to call then, decides she not ready to hear anyone's voice. But she knows only one number by heart and feels obligation creep up on her for being a crappy best friend. She tells Chan Yong she's sorry. No more, no less. Her phone rings mere seconds after she sends the message

_I understand._

Two words. She remembers breaking down after receiving the message.

Later she wipes the tears away and throws out all her light-colored clothes and loses her virginity to a man with blonde hair just to prove to herself that he doesn't own her anymore. _And maybe because the blonde hair helped make sure it didn't remind her of anyone. _

Eventually she gets better again. Stops looking behind her to make sure no one's following. Doesn't flinch when someone speaks Korean. Talks to her mother every night, who uses the money Eun Sang made to get her own place and is currently looking for a new job.

She calls Chan Yong once a month, and like the best friend he's always been, he never asks her where she is or what she's doing and never talks about people in Jeguk High except for Bo Na. She can't bring herself to ask how's everyone doing even if she kind of wants to know.

It's 3 years down the road when she's discovered. When a man hands her a card and tells her that he wants her to call him for a simple model job for his clothing store. She dismisses it at first, but when she finds out how much he's willing to pay she can't pass it up.

Later someone else liked what they saw and now she does it fairly regularly, even making it to some magazine covers, all in the US of course, she refuses to do anything international.

He comes close to finding her during her fifth year, and he almost succeeds, but she's so very good at hiding. She wonders why her Dark Knight never tried finding her.

Then the letter comes in the mail and she opens it with shaking hands.

_You've been invited to the 10__th__ year reunion of Jeguk High School. _

At first, she wants to burn the letter, because it _hurt_. But she realized her time was up. Her life in the US was a ticking time bomb, and its finally about to explode.

No more running.

She sighs and books a flight to Seoul.

She wonders how Prince Charming will react when he realizes she's Cruella, not Cinderella.

The very first step she takes out of the arrival hall leaves her breathless, she loves horror movies and it feels like the monster is creeping around behind walls, ready to jump her any moment.

She breathes a sigh of relief when nothing happens, except for the few paparazzi that snaps photos of her. Eun Sang wants to tell them if maybe they could post it tomorrow evening, when the reunion's over, just to give her that nice little element of surprise. But decides that that will probably lead to more questions than she'd like.

Her mother opens the door and is startled to see her daughter at the end. The women that stood in front of her looked like daughter but did not carry the same kind and happy expression that she remembered.

Nevertheless, they embrace, and Eun Sang cries, and her mother thinks she still very much the same, just broken.

Eun Sang chooses a nice black dress for the occasion, since she didn't wear light-colors anymore, especially not white. _Tan often told her she looked best in white. _

She takes a cab to the high school and stands outside for a solid 10 minutes contemplating if this was really the best idea. And suddenly she feels like the vulnerable 18-year-old that lied about her family and she clenches her teeth at what he made her do just so she would _fit in. _

She would never fit in.

So, she steels her spine and walks in. The click-clack of her heels reminding her that she left the damsel in distress behind a long time ago.

The first person she sees is Hyo Sin, leaning against a wall, smoking, alone. She stops in front of him and raises her eyebrow.

When the look of recognition fades, he all but smiles.

"And the plot thickens." He mutters to her and Eun Sang rolls her eyes. Typical.

"It's good to see you too, sunbae." She quips sarcastically.

"It's really good to see you too, Eun Sang." She smiles then, she really missed Hyo Sin.

The hall makes Eun Sang skin itch. It's the same hall that she was once in, Kim Tan sitting next to her and they're holding hands, smiling at each other. She remembers how happy she thought she was. Now all she feels is an ache in her cold cold heart. But she can't let it get the better of her, won't let it. She braces herself for impact.

Its silent.

She feels eyes on her and the metaphorical spotlight zero in on her appearance. When the surprise fades, she hears the whispers and she's about to bail, when it happens.

Tan comes out of the sea of people just like in a fairytale, this is the part where she runs over to him and he picks her up and they kiss. This is the part where Eun Sang chooses Tan.

She turns around a couple of times, so worried that Young Do will be at the other end, and then it'll really feel like she's back in high school, but after her third glance she realizes it wasn't going to happen.

Tan looks at her painfully, and she's not surprised. Of course, he's hurt, she got up and left without even so much as a sorry. But she see's something else in there, a softness in his gaze that tells her this isn't going to end well.

He walks towards her and drags her away but Eun Sang has learned a thing or two in her years abroad, no more being dragged anywhere she doesn't want to go. She puts all her weight in her feet and refuses to budge.

Tan turns around then, confused that she wasn't moving.

"We need to talk."

"I know." Eun Sang walks forward, leading the way. Tan looks confused and follows after her.

No more being the damsel in distress.

Eun Sang picks the rooftop where they had their first kiss, where she lost her first kiss, where their relationship started. It was fitting that their story would end here just as it had begun. Oh, how life had come full circle.

Tan speaks first.

"You left." He says it without any emotion, but she turns around then and sees that he's obviously hurt and confused.

She wonders why she doesn't feel any remorse for her actions, even when faced by the person she hurt the most.

"I just want to know, why?"

She laughs then and Tan looks at her like she's crazy, and maybe she is.

"I'm not your princess anymore, Tan."

She spits the words out and feels something settle when the hurt passes his face. Maybe she's selfish for hurting a guy she once thought she loved deeply. But it felt good, that the princess had woken herself up from her own deep slumber, even if she did prick her finger on a spinning wheel.

There are tears in Tan's eyes by the time they are done with the conversation. He wanted her back, doesn't understand why she leaves even after she explains it to him, that she felt suffocated, that nothing belonged to her, that she didn't want everything planned out for her.

In the end, Tan had come to the conclusion that there was _someone else_ and Eun Sang, who was tired and sad that Tan hadn't change much, had let him believe what he wanted to.

The conversation ends with a stern _don't come crawling back to me when he doesn't love you like I do. _

He stalks off and Eun Sang closes her eyes and knows this is the last time she will ever see Tan. Yet, she feels a lightness in her heart she hasn't felt in a long time.

She gets up and is about to leave, when she feels angry eyes on her.

"Yah Young Do!" Comes Myung Soo's voice as he runs into his hideout, where conveniently, Bo Na, Chan Yong and Young Do were hiding away from the reunion.

When they hear the news, Young Do feels Chan Yong's and Bo Na's eyes on him and tries to school his face to mask his surprise. No need to show them anymore vulnerability when it came to Eun Sang.

"So? Why are you telling me this?" He retorts at the overly excited Myung Soo who was telling them about how she looks different and that Tan and she left the hall almost immediately.

He tries to pretend his heart isn't aching when he hears the news. Young Do closes his eyes. It's been five years, fucking five years and it seemed his heart still coveted what his brain knew he could never have. It wasn't as if he hadn't tried as well.

"Are you still into her?" He hears Myung Soo's voice, incredulous and intrusive all at once.

"Are you crazy? It's been five years? It's just Cha Eun Sang." He replies back carelessly while his heart screams that he's lying. Unfortunately, Myung Soo doesn't look convinced as well.

Then Bo Na chimes in that she's pretty sure he's over Eun Sang since in college his life was a revolving door of one-night stands with heiress, models and actresses and Myung Soo nods in agreement.

That's his queue to leave, because his friends are little intrusive assholes that never understood the meaning of tact.

He picks up his blazer from the couch and walks out without another word, ignoring Myung Soo and Bo Na's comments and smirks when he hears Chan Yong tell them to let him go.

When he's finally a safe distance away from the hideout he lets his shoulders slump and rubs his eyebrows. _Cha Eun Sang. _It seemed she would always be engraved in his brain. He should've never sent that invitation letter. Besides he didn't actually think she would come.

Call it curiosity or pride, but he had wanted to see how she'd turned out after five years.

But like always, she ran to Tan, not him.

He finds himself on the rooftop, because its quiet. Because here he can be honest that maybe he's still in love with Eun Sang, because no amount of beautiful tall attractive women will ever really get rid of the way Eun Sang looked at him, like she saw everything, as if she knew everything when he didn't even say anything. No one carried that quiet, strong, rebellious disposition quite the way she did.

Young Do's pulled out of reprieve when he hears the loud clang of a metal door being slammed shut and sees a figure sitting alone on the adjacent rooftop, looking up into the night sky. He doesn't even need the figure to turn around to know who it is.

She's running down the stairs and trying to get to the other side of the rooftop before she can comprehend why.

When she reaches his rooftop, he doesn't even turn when he hears the door open, but she knows he's aware that she's here. There's a brief moment of silence, where Eun Sang catches her breath and Young Do wonders if this will end the same way it did so many years ago. He refuses to let his heart expect the best.

This is the villain. Hooded in black with a sinister grin, the girl should run.

But Young Do turns around and Eun Sang thinks that he can't be the devil. Or even if he was, she would gladly make her bargain. Because Young Do was staring at her, with an air of indifference, his sharp features, older and more intimidating. He's leaning against the wall in all his lazy elegance, hands in his pocket.

Eun Sang feels the intensity radiating off him and smiles a little, it seemed that the years had only made his presence more demanding. Just like that, Eun Sang feels just as breathless as she was when she arrived at the rooftop.

"Choi Young Do." She says his name like she's testing it out for the first time, even offers a little head tilt, her voice filled with mirth.

His eyebrow raises then, and she sees his jaw clench, he's deciding his next move. Eun Sang thinks that she knows what he's going to say.

"Why did you come back?" He says this as he stands straighter and something about him standing at his full height makes Eun Sang take a step back involuntarily. That makes him smirk, a tiny twinkle in his eye.

"Curious, I wanted to see what changed."

To her answer Young Do smiles, looks down at his shoes and sighs. Eun Sang wonders what his reaction is supposed to mean, but when he looks back at her there's _rage _behind his eyes. There was fire, burning.

"You're lying."

Like always, Young Do left her uncomfortable, always on her feet, every time she thought she knew the game she found herself just as lost as when she started out.

It's not an accusation, it's not a question. Young Do said it like it was a fact, and Eun Sang finds herself lost for words, because she knows he's right, but she just didn't understand how he figured it out.

He takes her silence as agreement then, takes a step forward tentatively and waits for her reaction. When he sees that she hasn't backed away his smile grows wider, even though the rage behind his eyes doesn't seem to subside. And even if Eun Sang is lost for words, she doesn't actually think it's a bad thing.

"Tell me why you're here." It comes out soft and Eun Sang tries to not let the surprise show on her face, but it's a stark contrast from the sharp angry man in front of her. She wants to ask him if he's referring to the rooftop or Korea.

But she stops itself, because the answer for both of those questions were the same.

"I was tired of running." She whispers, soft enough that she's not even sure he heard her. But then she sees his eyes flicker and she know he has.

"Ash, Cha Eun Sang, here I thought you would say you were here to see me."

Just like that, they're back to playful banter, and Eun Sang, who has had nothing but deep, tiring, bone breaking conversation the entire time since she's been here, can't help but feel thankful, and it shows on her face.

Choi Young Do for all his flaws, for all the constant suffering he caused Eun Sang when she was younger, was always the best at making her feel at home. Ironically.

She half expects him to ask her something else, to ask her where she's been the last few years, what she's been up to, why she left. But all he does is look at her, he looks at her like he's trying to note the differences and suddenly Eun Sang feels as if her dress is too tight, her skin too hot.

It was always like this with Young Do, he threw her off kilter five times in a row and when she's about to give up on him, he offers her a smile and she's pulled right back in.

This time was no exception.

She smiles in reply to his answer, walking towards the ledge and looks out into the dark sky. Nothings changed.

"How's life?" She asks this into the wind, but she knows he heard her, can _feel _him starring at her, even with her back towards him.

"Oh, you know, the usual. Had shareholders almost push me out of my company before prevailing and taking over said company, avoided an arrange marriage here and there, finished college, travelled a lot – just the usual life of a chaebol." He says this nonchalantly, but if there's one thing Eun Sang knows, is that with Choi Young Do, it was all about the subtext. In this case, the subtext was telling her that he was very tired and _so_ very lonely.

So, she turns around, decides the view can wait and see's him right where she left him.

"Must've been hard."

She feels the effects of her words before she knows what's going on. Because suddenly, Choi Young Do, was a hair breath away from her, and he's staring at her like she hung the stars. Suddenly she forgot how to breathe. His breath is quicker, and she can see his Adam's apple quiver.

He keeps starring at her lips and she wants to take the next move, because he's always the one that got rejected when they were kids. But at that moment, under the night sky, with the cold wind blowing against her hair, she knows he needs to do this.

And then as fast as he was there, he was gone. Back to the cold, aloof demeanor he showed the rest of the world.

He adjusts his tie and swallows, "you should go". The words hang in the air and settles into Eun Sang bones.

She sighs, running her hand through her hair. She supposed she deserves this; he was always chasing. He was the villain that fell in love with the princess and he didn't get her, because he didn't deserve her.

She _should _leave. They would never work. He drove her crazy, made her feel ten different types of emotions in just one day, lashes out when he's angry, pushes her away when he's hurt. She's no better. Broken and hallowed from a relationship that took and took and _took_, a coward that ran away when things got hard, had so much baggage to work through and she didn't know what she wanted – and yet Young Do would always want her.

She should leave, that was the right decision to make. But she should have stayed and braved the wind with Tan, she should have been sensible and stayed with her mother, she should have completed her diploma, she should have come back sooner, all things she _should _have done and yet…

Maybe should haves don't matter as much as what you really want.

And at that moment she really wanted to kiss Young Do.

So, she did. And he tasted soft and sweet despite being all sharp angles and bones. He kissed her like she was air and he needed to breathe. She felt like she was on fire, and before she knows it, she's crying. Young Do looks concerned, but it's been so long since she let anyone _in. _

When they need to catch their breath, she doesn't even let go of him, she puts her hands under his blazer, and she decides that for someone so aloof he was so warm. But Young Do is looking at her like he can't quite believe what happened. Like she'll disappear anytime.

"What does this mean?" The question comes out as a whisper but Eun Sang hears it as she snuggled in the crook of his neck. She smiles to herself, wondering where's the cool suave guy that told her he would always catch her, even if he made her fall.

"I don't know, but we'll figure it out."


End file.
